Hitachi and the Tohoku University's Research Institute of Electrical Communication (RIEC) said they developed a new integrated circuit that integrates an arithmetic function and a nonvolatile memory function by using spintronics and Si technologies.
The IC is made by placing a MTJ (magnetic tunnel junction) MRAM device on a Si chip with a MOS transistor. The data transfer rate is faster, and the IC is small using that method.
The idea is that a circuit that combines memory and a arithmetic unit is faster and smaller
The prototype chip is a full adder composed of the SUM and CARRY blocks. The SUM block measures 15.5 x 10.7?m, and the CARRY block is 13.9 x 10.7?m. The CMOS logic block was formed with Hitachi's 0.18?m process technology.
Posted: Aug 28,2008 by Ron Mertens
